Screening of some Brazilian fungi and bacteria able to decolor a textile effluent and evaluation of effluent toxicity on Artemia salina

Abstract

The screening of organisms capable of decoloring a textile effluent was performed using 4 fungi (F24= Aspergillus spp.., F48= Aspergillus spp.., F98= Aspergillus fumigatus, FTL01=Trametes lactinea) and 2 bacteria (T9 = Bacillus subtilis, T19 = Alcaligenes faecalis). These organisms were submitted to effluent decoloration assays in which the T. lactinea fungus demonstrated the greatest decoloration capacity (51.35%); thus, it was selected as a model organism for this study. The effect of pH, temperature and carbon sources on the effluent decoloration rate by T. lactinea was studied. The effluent decoloration by T. lactinea reached levels higher than 89.77%. Finally, acute toxicity assays on Artemia salina revealed that T. lactinea treatment reduced the toxicity of raw effluent.
 Keywords: biodegradation, textile dyes, water treatment.